Profit before tax climbed 56.7% year on year to Rs 229.21 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2022.

Net Interest Income grew 20% to Rs 647 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 541 crore reported in the same period a year ago. Net Interest Margin (NIM) stood at 9.01% in the third quarter as compared with 9.10% recorded in Q3 FY22.

Pre Provisioning Operating Profit (PPoP) was at Rs 279 crore in Q3 FY23, rising 24% from Rs 225 crore registered in Q3 FY22.

On the asset quality front, the bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) was at Rs 861.36 crore as on 31 December 2022 as against Rs 870.26 crore as on 30 September 2022 and Rs 863.82 crore as on 31 December 2021.

GNPA on advances [including advances sold under IBPC] was at 3.46% in Q3 FY23 as compared to 3.82% in Q2 FY23 and 4.39% in Q3 FY22.

NNPA on advances [including advances sold under IBPC] stood at 1.73% in Q3 FY23 as against 1.93% in Q2 FY23 and 2.38% in Q3 FY22.

Provision coverage ratio improved to 50.84% in Q3 FY23 as compared with 46.81% reported in Q3 FY23.

The bank said that it has utilized Rs 36 crore of Covid Restructured Loan (RL) standard provisions during the quarter and continues to hold Rs 60 crore in Standard RL provisions which may be utilized in the following quarters.

Cost to Income stood at 63.95% in Q3 FY23 compared with 66.58% in Q2 FY23 and 64.67% in Q3FY22. Number of employees stood at 20,005 in Q3FY23 as against 18,962 in Q2FY23 and 17,509 in Q3FY22.

Return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) stood at 2.21% and 14.94%, respectively, in Q3 FY23.

In Q3 FY23, the disbursement was at Rs 4,797 crore, recording a growth of 68% YoY. The bank reported strong disbursement across all product segments, with its flagship product - SBL clocking a YoY disbursement growth of 73%. Advances jumped 27% YoY to Rs 24,915 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2022.

During the quarter, total deposits grew 31% YoY to Rs 23,393 crore. CASA deposit for the third quarter stood at Rs 10,817 crore, registering a growth of 19% YoY. CASA ratio was at 46% as of December 2022. Term deposits grew 43% YoY to Rs 12,576 crore and retail term deposits rose 18% YoY to Rs 8,270 crore. Retail Term Deposits contribute 66% of total term deposits.

As of 31 December 2022, total CRAR was at 24.28%. Tier I stood at 23.74% and Tier II was at 0.54% as on 31 December 2022.

P N Vasudevan, managing director and CEO of Equitas SFB, said, “The effect of Covid on the bank's financials has waned. Many initiatives of the bank to create a stable, sustainable and scalable bank have started yielding results and the performance of the 3rd quarter reflects the same. Various projects on the digital side are expected to become operational over the next few quarters. As they go live, we expect further improvement in both productivity and efficiency as well as in generating newer business models.”

Equitas Small Finance Bank offers products and services to meet the needs of individuals with limited access to formal financing channels, as well as affluent and mass affluent, small & medium enterprises (SMEs) and corporates.